Underwhelming trade deadline passes
Thursday, Feb. 8, marked the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) annual Trade Deadline. There were a lot of names spiraling around in trade rumors, such as guards Dejounte Murray, D’Angelo Russell, and DeMar DeRozan. However, the deadline ended up consisting of minor moves made by teams dumping contracts and adding depth to their rotations. Ultimately, some teams emerged as victors while others floundered in the process.
The team that had the best Trade Deadline was easily the New York Knicks, as they added some much-needed depth to their rotation. They were able to acquire solid role players such as forward Bojan Bogdanovic and guard Alec Burks, both of whom will attempt to step in and make an impact on the team. Along with the players they received, the Knicks were able to offload guard Evan Fournier’s contract to Detroit, along with guards Malachi Flynn and Quentin Grimes. New York will look to finish the season strong after adding these solid assets.
The two teams that needed to figure out if they were going to trade for help or offload players were the Chicago Bulls and the Golden State Warriors. Unfortunately, both ended up doing nothing to help improve their massively disappointing seasons. Chicago had numerous players such as guards DeMar DeRozan and Zach Lavine, and center Nikola Vucevic, who they could have exchanged for younger talent. Golden State, who has been the more surprising disappointment this season could have moved numerous young pieces like forward Johnathan Kuminga or guard Moses Moody, but elected to stay put.
Although they only made just one move at the deadline, the Oklahoma City Thunder added forward Gordon Hayward for some veteran experience that they so desperately needed. OKC is amidst a spectacular season but they are young and had no seasoned players on their roster. Hayward's addition adds some depth to scoring and is a step in the right direction for the Thunder.
A team in a similar boat as the Bulls and Warriors is the Los Angeles Lakers, a team amongst another massively disappointing season. They were in talks to land Atlanta’s guard Dejounte Murray, among some other names, but were unable or unwilling to do so. Other than their “bubble championship,” this LeBron James and Anthony Davis-led franchise has been extremely disappointing as they fail to thrive every year despite an extremely talented roster.
The final big winners of the deadline were the Toronto Raptors who were able to move guards Dennis Schroder and Kira Lewis Jr., along with forwards Thaddeus Young and Otto Porter Jr. to the Brooklyn Nets and Utah Jazz. In return, Toronto acquired Canadian forward Kelly Olynyk who gives them some much-needed spacing at the forward/center position. Olynyk will join guard Ochai Agbaji who is an extremely young player with immense potential in a Raptors system known to develop players well.
The trade deadline, as mentioned before, didn't have any blockbuster trades but had contenders loading up their rotations in preparation for a hopeful title run.